Frank McCourt Video

Just saw the video on Frank McCourt, I especially liked when he talked about imagination--my TIP topic, somewhat. He said, that he and others knew they would get out of the "juicy slums " in Ireland, because they dreamt they were getting out. They had imaginations and wished to go to America. This brought to my mind how no one has time to imagine today--I think it's partly due to the internet. But I think as time marches foward, the less we seem to use our imaginations for whatever reason--maybe the need is not there since we have a larger middle class society. Everyone seems to be caught up in the commercial world and in conventional middle class values (which is ok, I guess), but I'm a romantic and feel sad about using our imaginations less. However, I could be wrong, maybe we aren't using our imaginations less or if we are maybe it'll be revived. Imagination, like a frustrated teenager, is very misunderstood.  http://www.viddler.com/explore/nyusteinhardt/videos/29 Regarding the video, the West Village scenes evoked nostolgic feelings--made me want to go there for a walk. But then I recalled the crowds and thought of all the homework I had still and that was like having a bucket of ice water thrown in my  face. Anyway, great video. Thanks to Nancy.

ironyuse to (each meaning of irony)

After reading  a metro news story: "Palin meets a gun owner she doesn't like," I thought what a wonderful  lesson this would make to teach students about irony, especially to help them understand irony as a literary device.

second language composition

All three schools of thought are important in order to stop the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. Also, students level and motivation are important here. ESL students who are capable of going into a class that teaches academic writing across the curriculum, should be in that class. Not every ESL student is on the same level. There was a time when I needed to emulate/imitate either the great romantic imaginative writers and/ or the disciplined academic writers. Its all  a process whether its controlled, traditional, or the process approach. So I don't get it when they refer to one as a process approach and the other as simply controlled or traditional. It's all a process that has to be internalized in order to write as a disciplined student. I think the controlled and traditional versions are important for college adult writers who are not native English speakers. They are older and the writing process has to be consciously controlled for an internalization process to take place in the race pace of college life. That's how I see it. This argument, however interesting, is ridiculous. All three approaches are important and relative, just like everything in life. This said, I agree- a writing approach that just focuses on a student expressing his/ her personal and emotional feelings and thoughts is not preparing a student for college. That's all good in the beginning stages. A student must eventually learn the discipline of academic writing for certain core courses or majors. Even when I wrote a critical essay in poetry, I wrote it for an academic audience. I had to learn this, I didn't know how to write like this, and couldn't write like this till I was in college for around three years. It's a gradual process. I find it interesting that none of these studies talk about the individual's pace.  That's the real issue-how someone arrives at some information at a slower pace but no less intelligent, actually sometimes even more intelligent, but pace is the issue here. Schools, teachers, and the system as a whole do not give many students the time they need to understand the information. It's all about progress at a fast pace; that's why standardized testing is popular. It's also popular because of the big bucks it brings in.

On a personal note, I enjoyed writing for the humanities and about fiction much more than I did for the sciences. I have an active imagination and felt my tongue on a leash whenever I had to write for the sciences back in the day when I was a B.A. student. I didn't enjoy it.  However, whether I'm writing for the arts or sciences, it's a process.

literary imagination

 In general mixing disciplines is a great way to bring new isight and interpretations to fiction.  History especially, which is about life, can help stimulate the imagination about a story's situational events or its characters. I'm not saying that a work of fiction can't stand alone as a work of art, but history can provide  richer layers and meaning. Sometimes the historical context in which a story is embedded is obvious but not always. Another interesting observation, is that fiction comes from life... and no matter when or where, basic human needs and desires never really change.

The third bank of the river- father's checked out

This rich and multifaceted story is narrated by a young boy who is longing for his father to return home. The reader learns from the young narrator that his father has ordered a canoe and plans to live in it. Although the young son describes his father as responsible and dutiful, his action suggests quite the opposite from a rational point of view. Amid all the pain and suffering the father causes his family, particularly his son, while virtually appearing untouched by their grief, would lead one to view this man as cruel or even insane.  However, Rosa's story could be, and I think was meant to be, interpreted on a a mystical level as well. Although, the author never gets inside of the father's head and the reader never learns what drove him to his decision, it is clear that his plan was deliberatiely and meticulously designed, the boat " was built to last."

Although the son convincingly describes his longing to see his father throughout the story, he ironically fails to rise to the occasion when the opportunity of reunification presents itself. This missed opportunity leads to his torturing himself for the rest of his life. However, I think the son not only takes his father's place, psychologically, but he also becomes his father through a psychic merging process. Through this merger, the son is driven to a kind of madness as the boundaries between them dissolve till finally the father ceases to exit, " Nobody ever saw or heard about him again." 

After the scene where the son runs away from the father, he describes, in my view, the symbolic location of the third bank: "when death comes I want them to take me and put me in a little boat in this perpetual water between the long shores; and I down the river, lost in the river, inside the river... the river..." (55). The repetition indicates a form of madness that leaves in the reader's imagination a picture of the son succeeding his father on the river drifting in a canoe "built to last." ( a twilight zone moment)


It took me some time to question this third bank idea, but when I did, I wondered how many banks a river has. Two banks came to mind, but really didn't know for sure. So I googled images of  riverbanks and two indeed are what I saw. Then I wondered what this third bank represented?  I knew at this point that it wasn't a physical structure; therefore, it must be an invisible one, and that led to its symbolic signification. It's crucial that the reader explores the symbolic meaning of the third bank for Rosa's story to be more fully understood. I also think this third bank has more than one symbolic location or meaning. I interpreted the third bank to simultaneously represent death, sanity, and the canoe itself as an extention of the river. The river is also symbolic of the passing of time. In the narrative the son observes the river constantly "renewing itself" while he himself deteriorates from age and illnesses, which I believe, are prematurely brought on by his obsession with his father. Ironically, he is concerned with his father's well being while neglecting his own. The more the narrator-son tells the reader about his father, the less reader knows about the father; however, a  fuller portrait of the narrator-son is fully blown.(This is  definitely a "Bartleby" story from a Latin American perspective.  I wonder if Rosa was influenced by Herman Melville's "Bartleby.")

Finally, regarding the relationship between the father and mother, I sensed a deep disatisfaction coming from both sides. The mother clearly seems frustrated and disappointed with the father. I inferred that the mother is annoyed at the father's level of commitment.  Although the son sets the stage by presenting his father as responsible and dutiful, he never mentions anything that indicates his father's love. (although being dutiful is a form of love, I think something else is going on here.) Perhaps underlying the mother's "ranting and raving," as narrated by the son, is a longing for her husband to be less dutiful and taciturn, and instead to be more affectionate and communicative. Overall, I intuitively sensed a father who wasn't emotionally present and an enraged mother who had been left with the burden of caring for the household, the children, and perhaps even the business. Therefore, I interpet the father's state of limbo on the river as a reflection of how he had been when he lived on land with his family. I also think the father repesents other men in general who collapse or shut down from the pressures and demands of society, and of family life. Moreover, the son's sacrifice in giving up his own life and refusal to see the truth about his father is a continuation of his childlike wearing of rose-tinted glasses to avoid  facing the deeper psychological realization of his father's emotional absence even before embarking on his self-imposed isolation.

teaching vocabulary

I'm getting TESL certified at the New School and I have to do a reading lesson plan for this Saturday. I had planned to teach the vocbulary in context but then I thought of myself and how that doesn't always work for me. Let's see what other ways are there to teach vocabulary? When I've taught before, I have allowed students to use the dictionary, but the teacher doesn't want us as prospective teachers to encourage the students to use dictionaries. I don't understand why-- I think there's a lot a student can learn from the dictionary. My own vocabulary has increased from looking up words in the dictionary. A good dictionary shows spelling, pronunciation, number, and what part of speech a word is. Perhaps, the teacher is against dictionary usage because looking up words take too much class time. Anyway, if anybody has any ideas, I'd appreciate it. Activating their schema to see how much they already know might be a place to start. Ideas are welcomed.